Primitive Archer

Main Discussion Area => Bows => Topic started by: Timo on March 20, 2009, 07:04:16 pm

Title: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Timo on March 20, 2009, 07:04:16 pm
My Daddy always told me that hard work will have it's rewards......I gotta hernia? :)    Well it does seem to pay off in the long run.

This is what I wound up with from the logs I kept back for staves. The seven staves in the foreground are by far the best wood I have ever handled. As Premo as it gets.

 50 staves in all today,  of the ones leaning up,the biggest part are all quality staves with a few being very good. There are a few character staves, and maybe a couple that I may pass on later. Will know more when I get their clothes off. Some of these staves can be split again, but I was just wanting to get them worked down and under roof. Went through a qt of shellac.

I plan on doing a "how to" on splitting later on, for those with interest,so there will be many more pics.

Pass the ibuprofen please.


(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v86/Timotoad/osage%2009/osage018.jpg)

(Sorry Ryan, but I had to post my good luck.):)
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: John K on March 20, 2009, 07:17:34 pm
That smile says it all !  Good for you !
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Pat B on March 20, 2009, 07:19:20 pm
Holy osage, Batman!!! :o   You lucky dog! ;)
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: George Tsoukalas on March 20, 2009, 07:25:31 pm
Timo, that's awesome. I get tired looking at all those staves. The stave you gave me is being long string tillered. I know. I'm slow. I don't build as many as I used to. Hopefully, it will survive and I'll have pictures to show. Thank you again. Jawge
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: cheapshot on March 20, 2009, 07:29:09 pm
Just looking at that pic makes my back hurt. What a beautiful bunch of staves.
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: JackCrafty on March 20, 2009, 07:37:08 pm
I can't stop looking at those staves..... :o
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: OldBow on March 20, 2009, 08:19:39 pm
You Rule!
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Eagle Eye Eli on March 20, 2009, 08:31:43 pm
 Timo,   

I would call that just a little bit of bowyer heaven :)   Best of luck
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: medicinewheel on March 20, 2009, 08:33:49 pm

EXCELLENT !!!
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: yazoo on March 20, 2009, 09:51:55 pm
what did you do after lunch ;D   also did you saw kerfs on some of them?
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Rich Saffold on March 20, 2009, 10:00:02 pm
Awesome work Timo, I'd be knocking back that Ibuprofen with some Jack Daniels...
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Timo on March 20, 2009, 10:21:23 pm
George,I was thinking about that stave I sent you just today. Looking forward to seeing it finished.

Yazoo, Actually this just took me 4 hrs.(I'm feeling it right now).  :'(   Straight clear wood makes a difference, and yes I did saw some kerfs in the very good stuff.

Suppose to rain here all day tomorrow, so I might gets some more work done on them.
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Shooter_G22 on March 21, 2009, 01:42:27 am
beautiful!!! :o :o

  looks lik your a very stave wealthy man.. there...  ;)  ;)   i tell you what... that is a blessing to be able to harvest that many staves...   good job...  i hope to be able to learn to do that one day...   maybe one day when i have a shop room on my own land and out of this restricted apts i might be willing to give that a try...  ;)  in the mean time i very happy for you and those that are fortunant to be able to do that.. and i love seeing post like that becuase it gives me motovation to get to that point one day... ;D

 
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: DanaM on March 21, 2009, 06:56:08 am
Dang Tim thats almost like winning the lottery, bet its easy to make friends when yer that rich eh ;) ;D
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Dean Marlow on March 21, 2009, 07:30:45 am
Tim a great looking bunch of staves. Will I see some of these at Mojam? Dean
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: DCM on March 21, 2009, 08:35:48 am
Shooter makes a good point.  We sometimes take a lot for granted.  I was stuck in an apartment in Jacksonville for about 2 years in the late 80s.  Aside from being able to fish in the ocean (off the bank), it sucked.  I'm blessed that I have access and resource to can get out and do like Timo and most of ya'll I reckon.

You got a perty haul Timo.  It stirs a powerful hankerin' in me.  Fun.  Thanks for posting.

Timo is gonna show us about how a job like that can be made much less taxing if you listen to what the wood tells you.  Working up staves is kinda like tillering.  The dang wood already wants to part in a certain way, or has some feature or message for you when you bend over it.  I'm not for sure but I think this intuition if you will comes from having cut and split wood for heat, posts, etc. for example.  After accumulating several hundert hours of that work, one gets a sense of where to hit, and how hard.  Believe it or not, putting 100% force on every blow actually works against you in many cases.  And you don't need a giant hammer either.  You gotta seduce that baby, jess like tillering. 

Here's a link to a wood cutting trip I did in '04, for those with a thirst but without access.

http://home.comcast.net/~dcm4/site/?/page/Wood_cutting_in_%2704/
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Ryano on March 21, 2009, 09:58:55 am
DANG YOU! TIMO!  :o
What are you trying to do to me!  ::)  I never seen that much pretty yellow wood in one place before, drooling...... :P ;)
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Shaun on March 21, 2009, 10:14:48 am
That looks better than a 401k. Plenty to do if you ever manage to pull the plug on working for a living. Nice haul Timo!
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: yazoo on March 21, 2009, 10:18:10 am
I cut wood two days last week, then I had to take a day off,, going to try to get three loads next week,,then take a nother day off,, turkey season week after, I dont hunt , I guide,while looking for osage, dont tell them ;D
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: sailordad on March 21, 2009, 10:30:08 am
timo thats awesome brother,i wish i had access to supplies like that.i aint afraid of hard work just dont have a  place to do that kind of hard work

i think shaun said it best  "looks better than a 401k"  and its probably worth more than most 401"s now too lol
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Eric Krewson on March 21, 2009, 10:50:08 am
I don't have many pictures of my osage cutting adventures. Many years behind the draw knife has left me with recurring carpel tunnel problems, probably from chasing grains on what I call bulldozer osage. This is the kind of osage you see about to be pushed into a burn pile, not often good stuff, but osage. I rescued tons of this stuff, twisted, gnarly and a killer to to work around the flaws, very labor intensive.

Here is one days cutting a few years ago. The temp was 108, my cutting buddy George wanted to bust it all with a sledge, no chainsaw kirfs. It was his haul, I was along for the ride. He worked a month on this stuff and it turned out to be substandard, chalky wood. The tree was a standing dead one.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/osagelog6.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/osagelog5.jpg)

Here is the biggest log we cut that day.

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v181/ekrewson/osage%20cutting/osagelog3.jpg)

Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: redwasp on March 21, 2009, 03:29:25 pm
I would say definately, hard work does pay off.  Its a great feeling to see something you've made, or helped make, last over the years.  From the looks of it it paid off very good. Enjoy the great harvest and put some away for tough times. ;).. Richard
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Bullitt on March 21, 2009, 04:21:25 pm
Show- Off!..... Nice going Timo! Notice the sunglasses? It's as bright as the sun there!
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: wvbowhntr on March 21, 2009, 11:32:35 pm
your a lucky guy osage is hard to come by around here i just got my first log but its only 38in so i will be splicing billets.
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: yazoo on March 22, 2009, 01:57:01 pm
looks like some great wood, but I dont think it is necessary to skill saw out the staves especially on the good wood, it misrepresents the  longitudinal grain, regardless of how straight the log looks, It does not help in splitting a really good log, it wastes wood.   jmo  mike
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Gordon on March 22, 2009, 09:53:42 pm
Oh my!  :o
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: n2everythg on March 22, 2009, 10:05:41 pm
Hay timo.. remember me?
I'm your long lost brother's cousin's sisters friend....
remember the one that used to buy you beer before you were 21?

well keep me in mind if you would......

Nice haul buddy.
N2
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Timo on March 22, 2009, 10:43:05 pm
N2,haveing trouble with my memory. :)

Mike, I understand your point about misrepresenting the longitutal grain,If I see that it wants to run off,then I split without a kerf.  I always remove all bark and sapwood before my staves go anywhere,and since I try to keep everything 2-2.5" wide,there is always plenty of wood for bows. Probly not needed for straight wood,but there are times when it come in handy,making the job easier? :)

Not sure about wasteing wood though? I seem to save wood.:)
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Olschool on March 23, 2009, 04:37:28 am
DANG! You have almost as much yaller wood as I got to see at OJAM!
I think I have a bad case of Osage envy
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Pappy on March 23, 2009, 06:59:21 am
Nice haul,yall have been busy. :)
   Pappy
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: GregB on March 23, 2009, 08:39:21 am
That's some good looking osage, and represents a good amount of sweat I'm sure! ;)
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: DirtyDan on March 23, 2009, 07:27:03 pm
It's a good thing man's reach exceeds his grasp, else what's a heaven for.  This is osage heaven to which every bowyer hopes to go someday.  These pictures just make you want to "waller" among all that "yaller" wood.  You did a great job, and I can see a great many fine bows within those beautiful staves.  Well done.
Dan
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Timo on March 23, 2009, 10:40:29 pm
I woller some i rekon! :) Been working on them a lil every night,taking care of all the belly splits first, then I'll start on the bark and sapwood. I have an old band saw that is my work horse,it helps alot with that. Lot of them are making two staves, Several have some really nice character, with few knots.Very happy about that.

I'm blessed with haveing some good wood, and being healthy enough to get it. I know there are lots on here who are very less fortunate than me, and I feel for them......(well kinda) :)

Thanks all for the good words.
Title: Re: Rewards of hard work.
Post by: Colt45 on March 24, 2009, 12:25:03 am
Wow! thats a lot of osage. haha I'd love to have just one stave right now  ;D But that! Ha thats a dream come true